Libya’s oil production rises by 85,000 bpd on Day One of 2017

Monday, 02 January 2017 05:12

The current output is well below the more than 1.6mn bpd the country was producing before its 2011 uprising. (Image source: Barekim/Flickr)Libya produced 685,000 bpd on Sunday, up from around 600,000 bpd in December 2016, an official from the National Oil Corporation (NOC) has announced

Output has risen after a two-year blockade was lifted two weeks ago on major pipelines leading from the western fields of Sharara and El Feel, Reuters reported.

Production has been resuming gradually at Sharara, which has a capacity of 330,000 bpd. But there has been no announcement of a restart at El Feel, which can produce 90,000 bpd but where a group of guards has been blocking operations. The NOC, for now, official declined to give details on the status of operations at the fields.

National output remains far below the more than 1.6mn bpd that Libya was producing before its 2011 uprising. The NOC added that it hopes to raise production to nearly 900,000 bpd by March, but this remains at risk from political conflict.

Libya is one of two members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that is exempted from a recent deal to cut output.